z(1) - f39

1Z(1)                             User Commands                            Z(1)
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NAME

6       z - jump around
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SYNOPSIS

9       z [-chlrtx] [regex1 regex2 ... regexn]
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AVAILABILITY

12       bash, zsh
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DESCRIPTION

15       Tracks your most used directories, based on 'frecency'.
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17       After a short learning phase, z will take you to the most 'frecent' di‐
18       rectory that matches ALL of the regexes given on the command  line,  in
19       order.
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21       For example, z foo bar would match /foo/bar but not /bar/foo.
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OPTIONS

24       -c     restrict matches to subdirectories of the current directory
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26       -e     echo the best match, don't cd
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28       -h     show a brief help message
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30       -l     list only
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32       -r     match by rank only
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34       -t     match by recent access only
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36       -x     remove the current directory from the datafile
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EXAMPLES

39       z foo         cd to most frecent dir matching foo
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41       z foo bar     cd to most frecent dir matching foo, then bar
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43       z -r foo      cd to highest ranked dir matching foo
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45       z -t foo      cd to most recently accessed dir matching foo
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47       z -l foo      list all dirs matching foo (by frecency)
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NOTES

50   Installation:
51       Put something like this in your $HOME/.bashrc or $HOME/.zshrc:
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53              . /path/to/z.sh
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55       cd around for a while to build up the db.
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57       PROFIT!!
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59       Optionally:
60              Set $_Z_CMD to change the command name (default z).
61              Set $_Z_DATA to change the datafile (default $HOME/.z).
62              Set  $_Z_MAX_SCORE  lower  to  age  entries  out faster (default
63              9000).
64              Set $_Z_NO_RESOLVE_SYMLINKS to prevent symlink resolution.
65              Set $_Z_NO_PROMPT_COMMAND to handle PROMPT_COMMAND/precmd  your‐
66              self.
67              Set $_Z_EXCLUDE_DIRS to an array of directory trees to exclude.
68              Set $_Z_OWNER to allow usage when in 'sudo -s' mode.
69              (These  settings  should  go  in  .bashrc/.zshrc before the line
70              added above.)
71              Install the provided man page z.1  somewhere  in  your  MANPATH,
72              like /usr/local/man/man1.
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74   Aging:
75       The rank of directories maintained by z undergoes aging based on a sim‐
76       ple formula. The rank of each entry is incremented every time it is ac‐
77       cessed. When the sum of ranks is over 9000, all ranks are multiplied by
78       0.99. Entries with a rank lower than 1 are forgotten.
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80   Frecency:
81       Frecency is a portmanteau of 'recent' and 'frequency'. It is a weighted
82       rank  that depends on how often and how recently something occurred. As
83       far as I know, Mozilla came up with the term.
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85       To z, a directory that has low ranking but has been  accessed  recently
86       will  quickly  have  higher rank than a directory accessed frequently a
87       long time ago.
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89       Frecency is determined at runtime.
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91   Common:
92       When multiple directories match all queries, and they all have a common
93       prefix, z will cd to the shortest matching directory, without regard to
94       priority.  This has been in effect, if  undocumented,  for  quite  some
95       time, but should probably be configurable or reconsidered.
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97   Tab Completion:
98       z  supports tab completion. After any number of arguments, press TAB to
99       complete on directories that match each argument. Due to limitations of
100       the  completion  implementations,  only  the last argument will be com‐
101       pleted in the shell.
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103       Internally, z decides you've requested a completion if the  last  argu‐
104       ment  passed  is  an  absolute  path to an existing directory. This may
105       cause unexpected behavior if the last argument to z begins with /.
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ENVIRONMENT

108       A function _z() is defined.
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110       The contents of the variable $_Z_CMD is aliased to _z 2>&1. If not set,
111       $_Z_CMD defaults to z.
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113       The  environment  variable $_Z_DATA can be used to control the datafile
114       location. If it is not defined, the location defaults to $HOME/.z.
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116       The environment variable $_Z_NO_RESOLVE_SYMLINKS can be set to  prevent
117       resolving  of  symlinks.  If  it is not set, symbolic links will be re‐
118       solved when added to the datafile.
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120       In bash, z appends a command to the PROMPT_COMMAND environment variable
121       to maintain its database. In zsh, z appends a function _z_precmd to the
122       precmd_functions array.
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124       The environment variable $_Z_NO_PROMPT_COMMAND can be set if  you  want
125       to handle PROMPT_COMMAND or precmd yourself.
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127       The environment variable $_Z_EXCLUDE_DIRS can be set to an array of di‐
128       rectory trees to exclude from tracking. $HOME is always excluded.   Di‐
129       rectories must be full paths without trailing slashes.
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131       The  environment variable $_Z_OWNER can be set to your username, to al‐
132       low usage of z when your sudo environment keeps $HOME set.
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FILES

135       Data is stored in $HOME/.z. This  can  be  overridden  by  setting  the
136       $_Z_DATA  environment variable. When initialized, z will raise an error
137       if this path is a directory, and not function correctly.
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139       A man page (z.1) is provided.
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